The Hackenblog

“This is pretty darn big… The Beat reports Marvel has left Diamond Book Distributors. Marvel had easily been DBD’s biggest account. No particular reason was given for the change, though DBD’s Kuo-yu Liang claims the distributor has been ‘prepared’ for the loss for some time.

“In early March, DBD let go two employees, which was immediately followed by a “glitch” that caused books carried by DBD to be priced incorrectly at online retailers Amazon and Barnes & Noble for a short period of time. A few weeks ago, Checker Book Group ended its relationship with DBD and Diamond Comic Distributors, citing problems with Diamond’s ability to collect debt from retailers.”
DBD loses largest publisher client to Hachette, by Simon, Icarus Comics, April 12, 2010

Hmmm….

“Since organizers of Comic-Con said they have outgrown the San Diego Convention Center — the festival’s home since the 1970s — L.A. and the city of Anaheim have launched campaigns to lure the celebration of comic books and pop culture.”
L.A. makes a play for Comic-Con on Facebook, by Hugo Martin, Money & Company, LA Times blog, April 8, 2010

Oooooooooo-kaaaaaay. Well, if they just held Comic-con twice a year — once in LA and once in SD — that would probably solve most of the problem. The movie people would probably only want to do the LA show. I’ve never met one who liked going to SD for the fanboys. Comic-con could even be held three times a year. The third could be in Las Vegas, for God’s sake, and it would sell out every time. It’s not like Christmas; Comic-con can come more than once a year. Jesus, must I think of everything?

And the real Reagan:

“Ronald Reagan destroyed unions…cut the budgets for education, EPA, poverty programs, etc…engaged in a public policy initiative aimed specifically at screwing over the poor…advanced the prison-industrial complex….hollowed out the Federal government to the best of his ability…ironically espoused the belief that government was the enemy (hello! he was the president *facepalm*)…was reckless and neglectful in responding to HIV/AIDS…tried to cut disabled people from social security rolls (that’s right…disabled people)…HUD grant fraud…Sewergate…”
General Electric Pandering To Right-Wing: Why Are Progressives Silent?, by Angelo, Another War of Jenkins’ Ear, March 20, 2010 (via)

And just to get back to me-me-me and my book, one of the many reasons I bothered to write the Hackenbush novels was to remember what Reagan, his policies, and minions did to hurt artists and anyone in the working class in the 1980s. To name just one here: 8% waitress tax anyone? Because the Reagan administration assumed all waitresses lie about their tips. C’mon, folks, tax cuts for the rich and balancing the budget on the backs of the working poor. It started with Reagan and he got away with it and I’m not forgetting or forgiving.

Angelo, at Another War of Jenkins’ Ear above, asks where the progressives are on this issue. Well, they’re probably too busy dealing with the horrors of the present to post about the horrors of the past. But if you have a Reagan horror story, please post it on your blog and everywhere else you can. Or if you don’t have a blog, you can post it in the comments here. You can also post the link in these comments if that widens the dissemination or something. I love Reagan horror stories, and for your convenience, I have a page of links to them.

Part cyborg, all blockhead.

Jason…I…you…um…

I love these comics. Buy them. You’ll be glad you did. The first Weapon Brown, before Blockhead’s War, has a Christmas story in it.

“GM: The question that I was too cowardly to ask at your presentation and the first question everyone I talk to about your presentation asks is: How and where does Barack Obama fit into the millennial generation hero mythology? Or does he?

“DD: I think that before I answer that, I should clarify that what our fictional heroes inspire us to do is somewhat separate from real world inspirations. Real living leaders use mythic themes to tap into a zeitgeist, but they can never act completely within the mythic framework. All realities fall short of the fantasy, which is one of those things that even Jung and Freud could agree upon.

“Obama is a bit of a cross-roads figure. He has pop sociologists talking about Generation Jones, which somehow exists between the Baby Boom and Gen X, and seems to consist of everyone born on the same day as Barack Obama. In all seriousness, he manages to unify many Americans from various generations in a way that hasn’t been seen since GenX first started to become politically active in the mid 1980s. He does this partially by fulfilling needs for Oedipal mythos as well as transcending them. He is the fatherless child, who is attempting to succeed in reforming and revitalizing his homeland in a way that his own father failed to do in his. In this sense, it is no coincidence that he has referred jokingly to the Superman myth on more than one occasion, as the emotional resonance of his own life story is the same as the one in the original story of Kal-El (Superman) and his father Jor-El. As an aside, this might be one reason that the pernicious rumor that Obama is not ‘really from here’ persists, because the mythic trope Obama utilizes taps into the flight from someplace foreign (Krypton); intriguingly enough, within the Superman mythos, this same allegation is actually utilized by the hero’s nemesis (Lex Luthor) to rally support against him on several occasions. As a traditional heroic figure, Obama comes forward as the singular righter of wrongs, meant to save us from the brink and to save us from ourselves. In this way, he is much like all other Presidents.

“However, Obama is also the Community Organizer as President. He relies on appeals to the strength of his supporters, even as executive. He presents his point of view, but then announces that it is up to Congress to do the work. Given great power by his predecessor, he deliberately makes public show of the elimination of these powers as part of the repair of the nation. We see evidence of this when he retains some of the Bush era powers, or fails to eliminate them rapidly; many on the Left are upset, but particularly those under the age of 45. Also witness that older liberals are much more likely to be calling for Obama to utilize restrictive measures, such as the full force of the Patriot Act or The Fairness Doctrine, to deal with political opposition. I suspect that many younger supporters of the President would react to such steps as I would, as a betrayal of the emotional core of his presidency, that the President is not the ultimate arbiter of justice. In a way, what Obama attempts to do is harken back to “Jeffersonian” ideals, although even Jefferson retaliated against supporters of Adams in kind and regularly treaded upon Congress once he was in the office.

“In the end, though, Obama cannot BE the Millenial hero, any more than he can have actual super-powers. To briefly emphasize this point, one could also see that young conservatives rallied even more closely to Sarah Palin once she quit as Governor. They saw it as an indictment of the system and her political opponents, rather than irresponsibility. This is because she too tapped into the Millenial heroic journey, stating that she would rather yield power than persist in an office that was bringing Alaska so much negative press. This is not to say that she would quit halfway through a Palin presidency, but the act intimates that she would be a less unitary executive than Bush or Reagan or Nixon, and that this reduced attachment to power has appeal to both left and right. I am not entirely sure that Palin the person can measure up to that heroic ideal, or even that she actually wishes to do so.”
Millennial Generation Hero Interview with Daniel Debowy, M.D., Ph.D., by Ginger Mayerson, J LHLS, August 9, 2009

You see, it only seems like I sit around watching Netflix and eating bon-bons, when in fact I do occasionally interview fascinating people.

Some of you might recall when I blogged about the starting to start-up comic publisher, Furies Publishing, (Furies, not furries) and asked that y’all go look them over and click on their Google ads.

Well, thank you, all those clicks added up to almost $100! And then Google pulled their ads for some obscure reason and now the Furies won’t ever get that money your diligent clicks to Google’s advertisers made for them. This is very sad.

What is even SADDER is that the Furies are very clever women who were planning to spend that first $100 on cute little marketing thingys like bookmarks, bookplates, whatnot. What is totally TRAGIC about this is that these Furies know cute, like CUTE, like, Lawdy, do they know CUTE. So, now, not only do they not get their first start-up $100 to make some cute marketing things, we, World, will not be able to get any of these cute marketing things. And all because of Google Legree.

However, the Furies still have a donation button on their website. It’s tastefully at the bottom of the left sidebar. If any of you fine people who read this blog could toss them a few bucks, like more than $5, I’m sure they’d send you some cute Furies swag when they get enough dosh to make some. This is also a good deed: these are very brave women to even be thinking about starting a business, let alone one as risky as comics, in this economy. They’re taking it slow, so the Google shenanigans is a big-ish set back.

Also, if you could spread the word about the Furies Fundraiser, I’d be much obliged.

They’ll decide your project is obscene, sorry, “disturbing,” after they’ve taken the job.
Docucopies fucks over the Yaoi Press (also, via)

Here’s the TOS. Not a word about what kind of “disturbing” content they reserve the right not to print. Jerks.

Furies Publishing (working title: 3 Girl Group) is just in the begin to beginning stages and trying to raise a little money. Please go over and click on their Google Ads or drop them a donation (the donation button is way down the sidebar, or here for those of you who’d just like to toss them a little long green. Their blog content is worth a look). Furies Publishing will publish translated Asian and original English comics in serial and book formats, and probably some in e-formats. Please support them.

Here’s why they go by the names they write under on the blog:

“Virgil, probably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three: Alecto (“unceasing,” who appeared in Virgil’s Aeneid), Megaera (“grudging”), and Tisiphone (“avenging murder”).” Wikipedia

God dayam that was boring.

The parts in the jail and the jailbreak were the best parts, but the rest was just boring. This movie had even less dimension than the comic.

You could spend about the same amount on the collected comics and get more for your money. They’re better, deeper, and more satisfying.

Full disclosure: I read the collected Watchmen about six years ago and have thought about it and reread it a lot since then. But I didn’t really understand it until I saw “Dark Knight,” and starting reading and thinking about libertarian fascism. Watchmen makes the same point that a Big, Wise Daddy is not going to save us in any way we’d like him to, but the Watchmen comics do more to make that idea crystal fucking clear. (Super secret fact: if you hold the comic up to a mirror by candle light under a full moon after payday, you can see ‘fanboys are stupid’ watermaked on certain pages. Not many people know this, and I’ll be killed if I reveal my source [I just made it up]).

Proceed at your own risk:

Who has the time and resources to make stuff like this? I salute them.

I didn’t. Talk about the end of an era.

“In 2004, Rees announced that the strip (Get Your War On) would end with the Bush administration, and with Barack Obama assuming the U.S. Presidency on January 20, the cartoonist is doing just that.”

~snip~

“The Bush years are almost over and so is “Get Your War On.” Is it a relief? Is it sad?

“It’s bittersweet. I fantasize about Bush and me going into business together, maybe starting a record label? I think that could be really fun. He probably knows a lot of people in the record industry, which would help. (I assume he knows people in the record industry because he was President and the President knows everybody.)

“What were you doing on election night, 2008?

“Hiding under my sofa. After they called it for Obama, I went to a party.”

~snip~

“What’s next for David Rees?”

“I have no idea. Fortunately, the entire economy is collapsing, so it should be really easy to find a job….
David Rees Talks “Get Your War On”, by Alex Dueben, Comic Book Resources, January 13th, 2009

I haven’t read GYWO in years, but now I think I’ll miss it.

And his hair is perfect.

e-Spinner Rack

Check out Savage, Wilde & Corrigan. The art is by Brad Rader, so it’s great, and the story is humorously noir, if you can imagine such a thing. If not, you’ll just have to click on the link and go experience it your own self. You’ll be glad you did!

“I’m going to guess that the reason why there are so few female writers at Marvel and DC is because editors aren’t approaching them to invite them to pitch ideas. I’m also going to take another shot in the dark and guess that female writers aren’t approaching Marvel and DC editors in order to pitch ideas to them.

“The audience? Has nothing to do with it. Both male and female writers are perfectly capable of reaching any particular audience. There are a large number of male writers churning out soap opera scripts for predominately female viewers. I’m sure there are quite a few female writers who could crank out a popular Batman story.

“If Marvel and DC editors actually care about hiring more female writers, they should take a close look at the industry in order to see which women writers are producing material that appeals to the current superhero audience. And then they should approach those women and ask them to pitch ideas. And they should do it just as often and for the exact same projects as they approach male writers for. Who do superhero fans respond to? Which female creators (from any industry) do they speak highly of? Which female authors specialize in action/adventure sagas? Find out and go contact them.

“It’s not that difficult. Really.

“Finally, after you approach these women, make sure that they ‘get’ superhero comics. They have to understand the common tropes and the way that superhero universes and stories operate. Don’t grab an author who has spent her entire life writing love stories for teenage girls, pair her with a terrible artist, plunk her down on a Revanche miniseries and then throw your hands up in the air and proclaim women can’t sell superhero comics when nobody buys it! One, you hired someone who has no idea how to reach the superhero audience. Two, you gave the writer an unpopular character to work with. Three, you saddled her with a terrible artist.”
Where the girls aren’t, Digital Femme, December 20, 2008

No, really, maybe female comics writers should start blogging or put their superhero (and other) scripts online. If the story got a following or a scandal or some kind of buzz, it might get the attention of some editor at the Big Two. Y’know, if I liked a script online enough to follow it, I’d certainly start bugging the Big Two to make a comic out of it. But I’m funny that way.

Hey, why not? Beats waiting around for the phone to ring.

“…Guggenheim said a lot of people who aren’t reading Spider-Man or refuse to read Spider-Man are judging it based on misunderstandings. ‘Part of the problem with the controversy behind One More Day is the understanding of what was retconned overstates the extent of what was done,’ he said. ‘Everything that happened in the last twenty plus years of comic book history happened! The only difference is that Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson weren’t married. They still dated. They still lived together. They still love each other. They just weren’t married. Judging from the letters and death threats we received, I think some people were confused. It all still happened.’

“Here’s my attitude, if anyone is upset about the marriage going away, then they must all be pro gay marriage,” he continued. Because if you’re pro gay marriage, you understand the distinction between a marriage and a civil union — that a civil union is not equal to a marriage. We downgraded Mary Jane and Peter to a civil union. If that bothers you, then you’re pro gay marriage.”
Guggenheim’s Amazing Secrets of Spider-Man, The Pulse, September 10, 2008

I’m pro-gay marriage and I couldn’t care less about Spider-Man (I’m a DC person myself), but who is this gay-hatin’ comics writer? He downgraded their commitment to each other so they could break up? Huh? Did he skip the tact and consideration courses at comic book charm school or something? Where does Marvel find these people? And how can we get them to stop hiring them?

If anyone needed more motivation to contribute to Equality for All and defeat the constitutional ban on gay marriage in California, the moment is now. We need to defeat Prop 8 and all the gay marriage foes in California once and for all or the gay hatin’ fanboys win. And if Spider-man and Mary Jane were real people, I’m sure they’d be the kind of people who don’t want that. They’d want equality for all, like all right thinking people.

(Sorry, everyone, I bet you all thought the comics outrage phase was over. Alas, no, it seems.)

(via, which is the only way I see these things)

So, 2008 Comic Con in San Diego and this year I had a camera!

(more…)

This sounds more like Dee Patterson is making a case for divorce. I know For Better or For Worse is supposed to be some kind of paean to marriage and family but I’ve never seen it that way. Reading FBOFW has always been looking at a car accident I missed.

Full disclosure: I do know some happily married het and gay families, I am not anti-family or anti-child or anti-love, but FBOFW just takes all the joy out of it for me and I can’t imagine any kids reading this would think the trapped creepy hopeless, but financially secure blandness of the Patterson milieu is at all desirable. Foxtrot, Jump Start, Calvin and Hobbes, Zits, Kevin and Kell, and Rose is Rose do a much better job of making growing up, loving, and having a family much more fun than FBOFW. I suspect Lynn Johnson wants her readers to know that successful het society is a very exclusive club and they’ll have to earn their happiness if they want to be like her. But, hey lady, even I know there’s more joy in growing up, loving, and having a family than the Pattersons make of it. FBOFW does to relationships what Mary Worth does for growing old: they make them suck more than they really do.

“But then he proceeds to list all the reasons why gay characters wouldn’t fit into most strips. Doonesbury and For Better or For Worse, for example, are ‘set in a time that’s now. In other strips, it’s vaguer, less characters that live in the real world.’

“Why couldn’t gay characters exist in a world with more fantasy elements? When pressed, Salem admits they could. But then he’s quick to point to the reluctant newspaper editors he has to consider — the folks who buy the strip from the syndicates on a daily or weekly basis, and who can drop it at any time.

“‘It’s a conservative business,’ Salem says. ‘At this time, we may not be able to sell [a 'gay' strip]. I can’t say you can read on the comics page what you see on television. It’s a different art form, a more conservative medium.’

“Salem says that gay characters and storylines have Universal Press Syndicate’s full support — but the reality seems to be that only applies when they’re coming from established, lucrative cartoonists like Gary Trudeau and Lynn Johnston, who they’d be absolutely crazy to alienate.”
The Cartoon Closet, AfterElton, May 18, 2008

Yeah, newspaper comics must be a conservative medium since the default setting, with a few exceptions, is still white and male, gay or not. But I guess it’s progress to have four visible out white gay guys in the funny pages (Mark, Lawrence, Seth and Mark), progress for whom, other than white gay guys, is kind of up in the air. But I guess it has to start somewhere. Nothing against white men, but “progress” never seems to get much farther than that. Oh well, I guess that’s why newspaper comics are a conservative medium. Gutless, too, but maybe newspapers really are dead, which is sad, in a way, but I read all those strips, and the newspapers they’re in, online because I hate reading actual newspapers. The newsprint gets all over my hands, ew. So go right ahead and be a conservative medium; it’s not like you’re losing any money on me.

“Now, as all things must, it has shown up on ebay. Someone has found twelve original negatives to the English dubbed version in the vaults of Los Angeles’s KCOP-13 and is selling them on ebay for $24,000. Close up images of these negs can be viewed here. Note that one is marked for use by New York’s TV station WPIX (where I saw it as a kid).”
Tezuka’s Amazing Three, Cartoon Brew, April 4, 2008

Ah ha! I watched this on Channel 13 in LA as a kid, but no one on earth seemed to know what I was talking about when I described a Japanese cartoon with aliens disguised as barnyard animals, so I figured I dreamed it. Nice to know I didn’t. Although I seem to remember it in color, but, um, maybe I dreamed that part, I dunno…

J WOC masthead and Wapshott logo by Molly Kiely.

Now all we need are the articles. Ahem, fangirls?

Whoa!

PRESS RELEASE

February 28, 2008

——-
BECOME A PART OF THE MANGA WORLD WITH POP JAPAN TRAVEL’S MIND OVER MANGA TOUR
——-

Japanese dojinshi, comics published by the artist and sold at special events across Japan, have become a driving creative force, and a sensational way to connect with other fans. In the past, Pop Japan Travel has visited these dojinshi markets, but only as spectators. That’s about to change.

This August, aspiring dojinshi creators, established small press comic artists and manga admirers alike will have an unprecedented opportunity. Pop Japan Travel’s Mind Over Manga Tour offers guests the chance to go behind the scenes of one of Japan’s most respected dojinshi events, Comitia — and if you choose, print and sell your own comic or art book directly to Japanese readers!

If you apply and qualify, Pop Japan Travel will:

*-Translate your book into Japanese so that the locals can understand it
*-Print your book and deliver it directly to the event at Tokyo Big Sight
*-Help you sell your book and discuss it with readers at a booth at the event

Since 1984, Comitia has been one of Tokyo’s most popular dojinshi events. Run four times a year, it focuses on original, creative art rather than fan fiction. That has made it a key launchpad for new manga artists, with thousands of circles participating each year. It takes place at Tokyo Big Sight, which otaku will recognize from Comic Party, Genshiken and many other anime and manga series!

Even if you don’t choose to sell your own book, you’ll get an up-close look at the way Japan’s manga market operates. And the tour will also include the chance to meet and pick the brains of some Japan’s most important manga and dojinshi artists, plus a visit to a cutting-edge anime studio and Hayao Miyazaki’s Ghibli Museum.

Naturally, Mind Over Manga also includes our tried-and-true tour of Tokyo, providing a mind-blowing look at the world’s most populous urban area, plus a few excursions outside the city and an optional three-day tour of Osaka and Kyoto, Japan’s thousand-year capital.

The exact itinerary and price for the tour are still pending, but we wanted to spread the word as quickly as possible so you could start drawing!

Tour dates and activities are subject to change. Check out our Web site, www.popjapantravel.com, or contact travel@popjapantravel.com for details.

——-

DIGITAL MANGA’S POP JAPAN TRAVEL is the original and premiere provider of pop culture themed tours of Japan. Since 2003, PJT has operated more than 15 tours with themes focused on Japanese anime, manga, games and more. Pop Japan tours offer a careful balance of the hyper-modern world of J-pop culture and the rich traditions of ancient Japan, and PJT is the ONLY tour agency to provide exclusive experiences such as visits to anime and game studios, meetings with manga artists, and more. Pop Japan Travel tours are organized in cooperation with IACE Travel, one of Japan’s largest travel agencies.

###

Oh. My. God. This is wonderful! For people who like this kind of thing.

Which is better than no book at all:

“Our premier Wowio book is up and ready for download! It contains the first 3 chapters of NNFB, a preface by Hirotomo, never before seen artwork, and a new NNFB remix! All of that is absolutely free, yet through the magic of the internets, somehow Alex and I get paid for each download. So please sign up and relive the good old days of NNFB. If you aren’t able to use Wowio due to country restrictions, don’t worry. We’re looking for a way to make it available to international readers shortly.”

This is one of the best webcomics I’ve ever read, even when it gets a little goofy, it’s great!

And this WOWIO thing is verrrrrrry interrresting.

Please cross-post if you are so inclined. Thank you.

The Journal of Women on Comics.

Guidelines and format for The Journal of Women On Comics (ISSN 1940-7637). These guidelines are subject to modification.

The first issue of the Journal of Women On Comics is a print compilation of women writing on comics online (or in print, if it’s not a copyright violation) or original, previously unpublished non-fiction up through December 31, 2007. If you’ve published or have an unpublished essay, interview, analysis, reviews, histories, original comics about women writing on comics, or whatever before 12/31/2007 and would like to submit it for J WOC’s consideration, please use one of the templates below. I’d prefer MS Word, but I know not everyone uses it. Please edit and proof your submission before you submit it, J WOC won’t do any editing or proofing, so it would be good if your submission was as close to perfect as possible when it gets here. Authors retain their copyright. J WOC has permission to use the material for the volume it’s published in.

The deadline for big inaugural issue is on or before February 29, 2008 and the material can be from whenever-12/31/2007 .

Thereafter I’ll publish whenever I have 60-70 or more pages of material.

My criteria is simple: I’ll publish anything by a woman identified woman about comics, graphic novels, the industry, culture, etc. that I like and won’t get me sued.

Download the template in MS Word or Rich Text Format or Plain Text. Don’t worry about how it looks, I’ll be formatting up a storm in the final document.

I look forward to your submission(s). Please email your edited, proofed and formatted document to editor AT j-woc DOT info Also feel free to contact me if you’d like more information or just to chat. I’m on Skype at ginger.mayerson.

I know print is a little retro, but I’d love to be able to hand out a phone book-size first issue of J WOC. I think it would be a great huge collection of great huge writing by women about comics.

And guys, just so you don’t feel completely left out, I’m doing a magazine called The Journal of Bloglandia, which is where your stuff could be published, if you are so inclined.

Webcomics, dear God, it’s a whole issue on Webcomics at Sequential Tart. May the good Lord have mercy on us all.

http://www.sequentialtart.com

I even ramble on a bit about webcomics in this issue.

Oh, yes, and in honor of 10 years of Sequential Tart, there are some very cool calendars for sale! (more…)

I got to wake up with a sore throat, but that just means I’m getting it out of the way for the rest of 2008.

And since it IS 2008, I can post this again!

Journal of Bloglandia, because Blogtopia (y!sctp!) was taken.

and

The Journal of Women on Comics, women read comics and write great things about them.

The Upshot of Wapshott, an interview with yours truly at Sequential Tart.

More than you knew, more than you probably ever wanted to know. However, I do say some cool stuff about comics, smut, art, and publishing, and not necessarily in that order.

Journal of Bloglandia (ISSN1950-7645)

Journal of Women on Comics (ISSN1940-7637)

Please cross-post, thanks!

Streetlaughter has the best, circa 1969, definition I’ve ever seen.

Faggots: Dave Berg, Streetlaughter, December 13, 2007 (click for the larger image, but do read the post, it’s a good ‘un).

Thanks, Dorian, this was my first laugh of the day.